Being about the same age as Mark, when he was alive, I understand completely where he's coming from. The values instilled in our generation, in terms of what was understood as a social/political/economic contract between government and it's citizens, from our parents and grandparents are gone and there was/is no preparation, no socially cohesive alternative to mitigate the psychological effects on individuals of my generation.
I just want to honour Mark Fisher for making complicated, bleak, maligned, macro perspectives and dynamics of the globalised world accessible, "grokkable". For me this is an experientially demonstrable pathway to accepting ourself, the world and the entropy of the universe that animates us.
Not many people have such a sophisticated understanding of the modern world. This is getting to the core of the problem, people's false belief in the ego. A potential solution: non-dualism.
Ph L wholeheartedly agree. He puts words to the experience I have, but I had been blinded by this idea of "personal responsibility". For me Fishers ideas have been liberating.
It makes sense that William Gibson would have given up science fiction, because what was dystopian in the cyberpunk imagination during the 1980s in terms of state failure, libertarian corporate tyranny, private armies and the annihilation of privacy and the social safety net, all came true, and therefore are no longer science fiction. I was thinking about this with the release of Cyberpunk 2077. It's absurd that this kind of a world is being presented as taking place in the future, and without significant climate change consequence. That dystopia happened, and huge numbers of people, including game developers and science fiction fans, didn't notice, and just took it as natural and acceptable. Cassandra got ignored again, so why should she carry on trying to warn?
The anarchist style of prefigurative politics, building communities and networks of mutual aid, has one advantage in that it can provide some kind of alleviation from our feelings of perpetual anxiety, if only because of the communal nature of such activity.
You can say the same thing about church, or at least some kinds of churches, that build community, do mutual aid and talk about a better world that members can help to construct through their participation. Do either really change anything, or are they just means of coping which indirectly enable capital to exploit more? And yet like Marx says, we can't do without "the soul of soulless conditions, the heart of a heartless world." The opiate of the masses is still a real medicine, which is why Marx himself relied on opium on a daily basis.
I generally agree with most of his outlook, but I’m gonna make a wild assumption based on his comments and say that perhaps his ideology prevented him from investing in the better aspects of therapy or finding a competent therapist, perhaps one who isn’t solely about CBT. Like yes yes, it’s a symptom of a fucked up system, but here we are, and if there’s a way out of depression, it’s not gonna be by only reading Marx and slagging off therapy. Like I said, my political and philosophical views are pretty in line with his, but I went through many years of therapy and gave it a real chance, I did indeed talk about “mommy and daddy” as he says, and it prevented me from ending it all. Here he claims looking for and finding this political/philosophical truth saved him, and yet we know how soon after this he killed himself. We do live in a capitalist hellscape, but therapy can be an avenue of connection that keeps one from spiraling into the bleakness of philosophy. What good is “truth” if you’re too dead to contemplate it?
Mark’s ideas make me feel like I’m not crazy. These lectures have changed how I view the world. Thank you, Mark
I’ve only just come across Mark’s work but he seems to me one of the most underrated and prescient thinkers of the late 20th and early 21st century
I discovered him only yesterday and I could not agree more.
Being about the same age as Mark, when he was alive, I understand completely where he's coming from. The values instilled in our generation, in terms of what was understood as a social/political/economic contract between government and it's citizens, from our parents and grandparents are gone and there was/is no preparation, no socially cohesive alternative to mitigate the psychological effects on individuals of my generation.
Larry N whoa... scary
And the generation after you! 🙋
I just want to honour Mark Fisher for making complicated, bleak, maligned, macro perspectives and dynamics of the globalised world accessible, "grokkable".
For me this is an experientially demonstrable pathway to accepting ourself, the world and the entropy of the universe that animates us.
Is that why he topped himself?
Comments like that?
Stress is privatisated.
Brilliant.
And the part about oprah Winfrey was so on point.
Not many people have such a sophisticated understanding of the modern world. This is getting to the core of the problem, people's false belief in the ego. A potential solution: non-dualism.
Great videos. They may also have the best audio of any Mark Fisher video on TH-cam
This was great. Thank you for posting. Listened to all three parts.
This is so accurate of our current situation.
Ph L wholeheartedly agree. He puts words to the experience I have, but I had been blinded by this idea of "personal responsibility". For me Fishers ideas have been liberating.
It makes sense that William Gibson would have given up science fiction, because what was dystopian in the cyberpunk imagination during the 1980s in terms of state failure, libertarian corporate tyranny, private armies and the annihilation of privacy and the social safety net, all came true, and therefore are no longer science fiction. I was thinking about this with the release of Cyberpunk 2077. It's absurd that this kind of a world is being presented as taking place in the future, and without significant climate change consequence. That dystopia happened, and huge numbers of people, including game developers and science fiction fans, didn't notice, and just took it as natural and acceptable. Cassandra got ignored again, so why should she carry on trying to warn?
The anarchist style of prefigurative politics, building communities and networks of mutual aid, has one advantage in that it can provide some kind of alleviation from our feelings of perpetual anxiety, if only because of the communal nature of such activity.
You can say the same thing about church, or at least some kinds of churches, that build community, do mutual aid and talk about a better world that members can help to construct through their participation. Do either really change anything, or are they just means of coping which indirectly enable capital to exploit more? And yet like Marx says, we can't do without "the soul of soulless conditions, the heart of a heartless world." The opiate of the masses is still a real medicine, which is why Marx himself relied on opium on a daily basis.
This guy ended his own life.
Just think that over.
If it's the truth you seek,when you find it, make sure you can stomach it.
Extremely valid comment
Anyone know what the Hein (?) book is that he references around 30 mins in?
He is talking about "The Return of the Republic: Democracy, Power and the Case for Media Reform" by Dan Hind, published by Verso.
I generally agree with most of his outlook, but I’m gonna make a wild assumption based on his comments and say that perhaps his ideology prevented him from investing in the better aspects of therapy or finding a competent therapist, perhaps one who isn’t solely about CBT. Like yes yes, it’s a symptom of a fucked up system, but here we are, and if there’s a way out of depression, it’s not gonna be by only reading Marx and slagging off therapy. Like I said, my political and philosophical views are pretty in line with his, but I went through many years of therapy and gave it a real chance, I did indeed talk about “mommy and daddy” as he says, and it prevented me from ending it all. Here he claims looking for and finding this political/philosophical truth saved him, and yet we know how soon after this he killed himself. We do live in a capitalist hellscape, but therapy can be an avenue of connection that keeps one from spiraling into the bleakness of philosophy. What good is “truth” if you’re too dead to contemplate it?
56:54 Precariat